San Jose Sharks beat Phoenix Coyotes in regular-season finale

San Jose Sharks' Andrew Desjardins (10) tries to get the puck away from Phoenix Coyotes' Michael Stone (26) during the first period of an NHL hockey game on Saturday, April 12, 2014, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Joe Pavelski reached the 40-goal milestone, then added one for good measure. Antti Niemi made 30 saves and gave up fewer goals than he had in four of his past five starts. Oh, and the Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 on Saturday night to head into the playoffs on a two-game winning streak.

Not a gem by any means, but all in all, not a bad way to end a regular season that saw the Sharks finish with 111 points -- third-best in franchise history.

Now it's time to get down to business after a game that Sharks coach Todd McLellan said had "kind of a casualness."

"This was a tough one to watch and be a part of," he said. "It was a no-hitter from both teams, which benefited us, I think. I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad we get to start working now on focusing to play playoff hockey."

The game was meaningless as far as the standings go. The Coyotes fell out of the playoff picture 24 hours earlier, while San Jose was locked into a second-place finish in the Pacific Division and a first-round matchup with the Los Angeles Kings.

In addition to Pavelski's two goals, Logan Couture scored one. The Coyotes got one each from Mike Ribeiro and Shane Doan.

This has been a career year for Pavelski, who had failed to score a goal in the three games since he notched his 39th. His previous high was 31 goals, and after playing 527 NHL games without a hat trick, he had three this season.

His first goal Saturday night came on an early power play. Brent Burns fed him the puck as he skated through the right faceoff circle and his shot beat rookie Coyote goalie Mark Visentin, playing his first NHL game, on the far side at 3:43 of the first period.

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Pavelski's second arrived less than seven minutes later after passes from Joe Thornton and Matt Irwin set Pavelski up for a 35-foot slap shot that went in high on the short side at 9:56 to make it 2-0.

"It was nice that it comes right away in the game," Pavelski said of the goal that put him in the company of Owen Nolan, Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo as the only Sharks with 40 or more. "The other night, you could feel everyone trying to pass it."

And Pavelski resisted the idea that his 40 goals reflected individual accomplishment.

"You put yourself in good position and guys make good plays around you," he said.

Niemi wasn't tested much in the first period, but that changed in the second when the Coyotes fired 17 shots on net compared with just four in the first 20 minutes.

The Sharks goalie, who had a poor outing in the 5-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night that ended San Jose's Pacific Division title dreams, stopped the first 16 shots he faced. But at 10:27, Ribeiro was all alone when he took a cross-crease pass from Radim Vrbata and the shot cut San Jose's lead to 2-1.

Couture's tip of a shot by Dan Boyle just 13 seconds into the third period restored the Sharks' two-goal lead, but only 31 seconds after that, the puck popped out of a crowd along the boards to Doan and he one-timed it past Niemi on the short side.

Niemi made his biggest save of the night with just under four minutes remaining when he stopped Doan on a breakaway to preserve San Jose's 51st win.

Regular season over, the focus now shifts to the first-round playoff matchup with Los Angeles.

To that end, McLellan mixed up his lines in the third period, giving rookie Tomas Hertl a few shifts on the top line with Thornton and Burns and moving Pavelski to the third line center role between Tommy Wingels and Marty Havlat.

Maybe it was a sign of things to come, maybe it was misdirection.

It is, after all, playoff time.

Defenseman Scott Hannan missed the game after suffering an upper body injury in Friday night's win over the Colorado Avalanche. McLellan said he is day-to-day.

The Sharks skated in the third period with 11 forwards as Bracken Kearns did not return after suffering an apparent injury in the second.